A/N: I do not own Harry Potter or any character thereof! I just like to play with them.

A/N: Normally I put personal Author Notes at the end of the chapters, but I just wanted to ease one of the concerns that some of the readers have expressed. (Honestly, it seemed to be the biggest one actually, so hopefully what I have planned will be minor compared to that.) No, this is not going to be a slash story. If it was, I would have put the warning of it in the heading and in the very first chapter. Now, on with this small chapter!

Chapter 66

Harry was currently in the library looking for some books. It had been a week since his name had came out of the Goblet of Fire.

The stares and the jests had not stopped around him at all, though most of Gryffindor had finally decided that since he had chose Gryffindor over Slytherin, he wasn't suddenly going to turn into the devil. Ron still wasn't talking to him. In fact, Ron seemed to act as if he was contagious. It was very disheartening, especially after everything they had been through together.

He eventually found the book that Hermione had sent him to look for. As he rounded the corner carrying it, he ran into a girl with long dark hair, accidentally knocking her down.

Harry immediately recognized her. He had run into her - literally - four other times.

"We have got to quit meeting like this Gabriella," he said as he helped her up.

"Sorry Harry. I think that one was my fault."

"Nope. Mine again. I wasn't watching where I was going. Whatcha working on?" he asked eyeing the charm books in her arms.

"Mood charms essay for Flitwick."

"Not too bad of an essay then."

"Harry! There you are," said Hermione. "Oh. Sorry. I'll ... uh ... wait back by the table."

"Studying with Hermione again?"

Harry was confused by his friends odd retreat. "Yeah. She asked me to help her look for a book."

"Are you two dating?"

Harry choked. "Oh no. She's just a friend."

"Gabby! What are you doing talking to Potter?" hissed her brother coming up behind her.

"I can talk to who I want to. Anyway, nice seeing you again Harry."

Harry watched as she walked away arguing with Theodore Nott.

Harry sat straight up in bed. He now knew for certain that he had been dreaming of the Chamber of Secrets. Glancing at the clock showed that it was a little after 1 in the morning.

Grinning, Harry hopped up and quietly put on his clothes. He then grabbed his broom, the Marauder's map, and his invisibility cloak and carefully made his way down the stairs.

It was Saturday so he figured it would be a while before anyone woke up and it wasn't like he would be missed for a couple of hours.

Harry carefully made his way to the girls bathroom on the second floor. Thankfully, he didn't encounter anyone on his journey.

After making sure that Myrtle wasn't present, he turned to the sink. "Open," he hissed.

Harry winced. The sink was noisy. Very noisy.

Hopping on his broom, he flew down the tunnel. Once he was at the bottom, he heard the sink close through the echo of the pipe.

Putting his invisibility cloak and map in his pocket, he headed off towards the Chamber of Secrets.

Harry grimaced upon seeing the decaying skin the basilisk had shed. He carefully stepped around it and eventually ended up in front of another door with several inlays of snakes.

"Open," hissed Harry.

The clanging from the door echoed loudly in the cavern.

What he saw inside made his eyes open in surprise.

The basilisk in front of him looked like it had just died. There was no decay present on it anywhere.

Clang!

Harry jumped. "Merlins' knickers," he muttered. The door behind him had closed.

Turning around, Harry surveyed the chamber. His blood was still in the corner where he had been bitten. The statue looked ominous standing there. It seemed to be staring at him.

Harry then turned to the left side of the room where he saw the outline of two doors embedded in the stone wall. They were clearer now than they had been two years ago.

'I'm pretty sure that there are no more basilisks,' he thought. 'Better make sure.'

"Hello. Anyone there?" hissed Harry.

He felt slightly better when no response came.

Harry then turned his attention to the door.

"Open," he hissed.

"Of course, that would have been too easy," he muttered when the door didn't open.

After twenty minutes of trying, Harry turned to focus on the statue. He knew how it opened up. Hopping on his broom, he flew up to the mouth of the statue and hissed, "Speak to me Slytherin, Greatest of the Hogwarts Four."

It only took five minutes to explore the enclosed area. It was just a big chamber that had snake skins everywhere.

Landing back down in the main area, he began to examine the wall where the doors were again.

"Will you just open already," hissed Harry after a while.

To his surprise, the left door opened.

Harry just shook his head and walked in the room.

It was empty.

Well not entirely. There were bookshelves, a desk, and even a bed in the room.

But that was all that was present.

Harry frowned.

'Maybe Voldemort took everything when he had been a student here,' he thought.

It was sad really. There could have been a lot of interesting books down here from the Founder's Time.

Harry then turned his attention to the other door.

"Tempus,"he murmured after a while.

5:19 floated in ghostly letters.

Harry sighed. He would sneak back down here again and see if he could get in that door tonight. As he went to stand, he saw something on the base of the wall.

"Lumos Maxima."

Etched on the corner of the lowest brick was all four house symbols, which was certainly an oddity in Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets.

His eyebrows shot up in his hairline. He strained his memory to try to recall what he read about Hogwarts and the Founders in Hogwarts: A History.

"Argh," he huffed. He couldn't remember.

After grabbing his belongings, he made his way back through the tunnel and eventually back to Gryffindor Tower.

Again, he found it pretty easy to sneak back to the dorm. He only had to dodge Professor Vector.

After a quick shower (he had gotten filthy - which would have been hard to explain since he was supposed to have been asleep), he retrieved his copy of Hogwarts: A History and flipped through it.

It didn't take him long to find the passage he was looking for.

'Some say that the ghosts of the four founders still linger within its walls, keeping watch over the students to make sure no serious harm comes to them. Of course, there is no proof of that. Surely they would want to watch over their own houses instead of the present day house ghosts.'

The book then went on to discuss the present day house ghosts.

Harry put the book down. He had about twenty things running through his head at once. He was so engrossed in the many ideas formulating in his head, he never heard Hermione come up behind him.

"Already up Harry?"

Harry startled so badly that the table next to him cracked. "Don't do that," he said putting his hand over his chest.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly.

"Reparo," muttered Harry.

"Are you hungry?"

Harry nodded. After breakfast, he had some research to do.

"Nice Neville."

Harry had taken a break from his research and was currently playing gobstones with Neville and Dean. He had finally formulated an idea and even had some of the details already planned but he was having trouble with some of the logistics of it.

He figured a break would help him clear his head. Plus it had been a while since he had played a good game of gobstones.

POOF!

Harry looked up to where the sound came from and burst out laughing.

The twins had changed Lee Jordan into a bright yellow canary.

He then saw something that gave him pause. One of the portraits behind Fred looked to be giving a lecture. He idly wondered if any of the Founder's portraits were in the castle. If they did exist, it would make his idea a whole lot easier and require a lot less work from him. Hopefully, if they existed, he'd be able to find them without raising too much suspicion. He probably wasn't supposed to be in the Chamber of Secrets again and if anyone suspected him going back down there, especially after it coming out where the hat wanted to put him to start with, he imagined that all of Gryffindor would throw him out of the tower.

"I'll meet you in charms Hermione. I need to run up to the owlery."

She nodded - distracted by some book she was trying to read while she walked.

Harry just shook his head. As he entered the owlery, he - again - literally ran into someone.

"Harry. I'm so sorry."

"C - Ch- Cho," he managed to finally stutter out.

They stared at each other very awkwardly for a couple of minutes when Harry asked, "Sending a letter?"

"Just finished," she said. "I better get to class."

"Class? Oh. Class. Right. See you Cho."

"Bye Harry."

Harry watched her go and turned to give his letter to Hedwig. It had been a while since she had been on a delivery.

He barely made it to charms before the bell rang. He was trying desperately not to think of how big of an idiot Cho must think he is.

As it turned out, finding the portraits of the Founders had been fairly easy. They did indeed exist. The ones of Gryffindor and Slytherin appeared to be guarding secret passages for short cuts. Ravenclaw's portrait was on the 5th floor, not too far from the Ravenclaw dorms. Hufflepuff's portrait had been near the kitchens.

The problem he encountered was that none of them would talk to him. Not even the one of Slytherin when he hissed to it and said that he had found the Chamber of Secrets. They had just merely stared at him curiously. It had been rather annoying.

It seemed he had to figure out how to get into that room on his own.

Nothing could ever just be plain and easy for him it seemed. However, he couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen them somewhere before but he couldn't place where he'd seen them at. It was most likely going to drive him crazy until he figured it out.

A/N: Ok, lemme clear up some problems I forsee this chapter causing. No, Harry will not be an heir to Gryffindor nor to any of the other Founder's line. While I have read some stories that have pulled it off nicely, I do not think that I could do the same.

During my original outline of the story, this chapter would not have existed, but I got to thinking (which in itself is dangerous :P) one night while I was re-reading the Chamber of Secret's book about a few things. As such, while Harry's "plans" and "ideas" are merely just that at this point, eventually, they will come into play later on. However, they won't have a major impact (*shifty eyed*) on the story, nor will this story become about the Founders.

Then why mention them at all? Because this allows Harry to start seeing some of his own abilities and understanding what's in front of him better. In short, it will help him grow, both as a wizard and as a boy. (Especially when he discovers what's behind that door.)

Besides, in my eyes, what I have about to happen very well could have happened originally. With magic, most anything is possible. =) Like I said, it's Rowling's world, I just wanna play with it the way that I want to. =)

Just be patient with me. I promise that it will all work out in the end and make sense, without going off of the deep end. =)

Now, I know that there was no Severus in this chapter. He returns in the next. I promise! Speaking of the next chapter, Harry finds out that staff talks about him and Severus glares at the Headmaster. *giggles* It takes us right up to the first task.